No. 2 Bulldogs Ramping Up for St. Marys Team Race

Mar 11, 2010

Strong Spring Training Trip Hones Team’s
Skills

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The Bulldogs are
winding down a successful week of practice here and will travel
this weekend to St. Mary’s City, Md., for the St.
Mary’s Team Race. Charleston has shown the Bulldogs a
variety of conditions, from glassy calm, to a light drizzle, gusty
breezes and short chop. The team has focused mainly on team
racing, the style of racing it will encounter throughout much of
the rest of the spring.

28 Yale sailors have spent the last week studying team racing,
competing against students from the College of Charleston and
Georgetown and sailing amongst the porpoises that frequent
Charleston Harbor. Though team racing has been the focus of
the week, Wednesday also included several fleet races.

The team hopes to leverage its time in Charleston this weekend
at the St. Mary’s Team Race. Representing the Bulldogs
will be seniors Thomas Barrows, Sarah Lihan and Marla Menninger,
juniors Blair Belling and Elizabeth Brim, and sophomore Joseph
Morris. Though the team did not compete at last year’s
St. Mary’s Team Race, this year it will face off against many
of the top teams in college sailing, including top-ranked Boston
College, College of Charleston, Georgetown, Old Dominion, Roger
Williams, U.S. Naval Academy, Vermont and St. Mary’s.

Belling has appreciated her times sailing south of the McNay
Family Sailing Center.

“It was beneficial to sail against other teams in
practice. It puts us in a competitive and serious mindset for
racing.”